The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Summer I Turned PrettyBy: Jenny Han

Some summers are just destined to be pretty...
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has knows since her very first summer- they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

summary from book

My Rating: 5/5

I'd been excited to read this book ever since I first caught a glimpse of the cover which I LOVE. Then when I stumbled across the summary, I was even more excited because I love summer romance young adult novels. Really, any novel with romance always has me anticipating its release.

I'd heard mixed reviews on this one, so I wasn't sure what to expect but I must say, that I really enjoyed this book. The Summer I Turned Pretty was exactly what I wanted it to be and then some. Romance fans will not be disappointed as it provided a ton of that. It also provided a lot more than I expected. There is a back story involving Susannah, (Jeremiah and Conrad's mom) that I was not expecting to come across.

Usually with some summer romance novels, the characters are not the most important aspect in the story but I found that Isabel (Belly is her nickname which makes a lot more sense when you get the back story) as well as the others, especially the boys were very well developed. There are a few flashback chapters in which Belly remembers past summers during different periods and times in her life which are great at providing detail as to what happened in previous summers at the beach house etc.

These flashbacks also provide great detail into the relationship between Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad which is a large reoccurring theme throughout the novel's entirety.

Also, I just recently found out that this novel is part one of a trilogy. I'm really excited for the upcoming novels because The Summer I Turned Pretty left off perfectly. I really can't wait to see what's to come for the characters.

I just finished this book two days ago and I really enjoyed it. Read the whole thing in six hours. I'm definately excited to see that it's the first of a trilogy. It definately changes my perspective. I was initially a little upset that it ended the way it did. I was thinking to myself just yesterday that Jenny left it quite open for it to be continued. I started imagining scenarios that could pick up where the book left off. Yay!

i just finihed the book it was so amazing i cant wait to read the next one which is called it's not summer without you and it comes out on april 27 2010 : ) and then theres the third book the this summer series called we'll always have summer coming out in summer 2011 yessssssssss i cant waittttttt